There are many AJB buyers for FE products and I appreciate FE's responsiveness. But praising a group or individuals publicly and bringing them concerns privately is good practice.
I've felt bad about recent attacks and posted another thread this week suggesting much the same thing. I've worked with dozens of fans, actors and production team members, including selling valuable items on their behalf to my mailing list and online. They trust me. Then others post that I'm a bad seed without first sending me a note, "Hey, Matt, such and such happened, please tell me more, do I have my facts right about you?" Of course I'll respond and make things right if I can before it ever gets to public consumption.
Handling my own and others' issues in private I've gotten far. Defensive walls up in public aren't there. It's one of the many Christian things to do that is a best practice for everyone.
In this case, of course, Barry and FE have asked for public feedback and are receiving it. The homers are so alike yet FE has been so good-natured to the fans that it's hard for me to believe there was something amiss.
Well we cannot win can we? If we take the time to respond then our reply is seen as long winded and defensive, attempting to cover something up. If we don't reply we get accused of not answering questions.
Again , for the record, we are not protecting or covering up anything. There is no cover-up. We have explained our process and tried to explain that when two people approximate measurements from similar images they will likely come up with similar results. Nobody helped us. We asked for opinions from several AJB members, nothing more. Nobody supplied us anything and nobody gave us anything to copy. Our CAD plans were drawn by myself and two members of our team at our factory in China.
We used screen reference, blueprints and still images to extrapolate our dims. The domed head screw is very visible in these, as is the 'access' line, which was used on the original; prop to get to the interior. You clearly see the screw head on the underside of the device and the ø of the heads of these types of fixing are a standard sizes, not the thread, the ø of the dome. You can also use the size of Q's thumb. as long as you have something in the image that is known you can use it to extrapolate a rough ruler with which to virtually 'measure' the object. Its not engineering tolerance accurate, but it's close enough for these purposes and we were able to check our approximations against the blueprints for confirmation. You used a similar method, and we came up with very similar dimensions... not all that surprising really.
To comment a on a point you made "Using someone’s' else's work without permission or acknowledgment is theft, plain and simple. " So to clarify, you were involved in the production of an unlicensed bootleg without any permission from its owner. Theft by your admission. However you and Christof somehow now have 'ownership' of the homer's characteristics and dimensions? What you are effectively saying is that anybody making an accurate replica of a homer has to acknowledge you in some way because you 'own' its dimensions . This is where things start to get a bit ridiculous
As we have said previously, the previous unlicensed replica was nice and was pretty darn accurate. (It is missing several key details but I have not examined one in person so will not presume to make judgements on it) Dimension wise you approximated something pretty close. Because of your accuracy we are to be vilified and accused of all sorts of negative things because we produced an accurate , officially licensed replica?
As you can imagine licensors are not that keen on applauding or even acknowledging the work of unlicensed fan bootlegs, however we as a company do try and work as best we can to bring people toward the 'light' and official side of things when we can. I have never suggested that you or Christof lack any skill, in fact we greatly respect the amazing creativity that we regularly see from the fan prop makers. But the truth is nobody but EON 'owns' the rights to the props featured in teh films and their dimensions etc. We could if we chose be ultra aggressive and insist that action be taken against each an every fan project, however we chose to try and engage with the community and get involved. And for that we are repeatedly attacked. Honestly.... thanks guys.
You should take pride in the fact that your approximations were very close (within mm) to the original prop and stop making accusations against us or looking for conspiracy theories that simply don't exist.
Can we please put this mater to rest now?
Thanks
Barry
Firstly, what a shame.... Two wonderful props, each with their own unique place in any collection, being dragged through mud in this way....
To what aim?
Secondly, when I look at george's excellent pics I'm not convinced they were based upon one another... The overall dimension is the only similarity..... Many details are very different...
So as Barry says, this should be allowed to lapse... Indeed I tgt I saw the hand of compromise and respectful peace in his last response.....
take it, shake it, and know that such action helps many prop makers and projects yet come....
The last thing anyone needs is an incendiary environment of legal "aggression"
Many details are very different...
I Only see 2: The screw and the engraved line.
It is a pity the slider of my prop and the FE both curve to the left. On the real Homer, this curve goes first left, then right.
Stupid we both made the same mistake. If I would have had access to the blueprints, for sure I would have done it correct.
And that is the final thing I want to say about this. CLOSED!!
Many details are very different...
I Only see 2: The screw and the engraved line.
It is a pity the slider of my prop and the FE both curve to the left. On the real Homer, this curve goes first left, then right.
Stupid we both made the same mistake. If I would have had access to the blueprints, for sure I would have done it correct.
And that is the final thing I want to say about this. CLOSED!!
Indeed! Someone else had pointed the same thing out to me during a telephone conversation. Perhaps it's purely a coincidence, or perhaps not.
DG
So, what sharp little eyes you've got...wait till you get to my teeth.
"People sleep peacefully in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf." Richard Grenier after George Orwell, Washington Times 1993.
Many details are very different...
I Only see 2: The screw and the engraved line.
It is a pity the slider of my prop and the FE both curve to the left. On the real Homer, this curve goes first left, then right.
Stupid we both made the same mistake. If I would have had access to the blueprints, for sure I would have done it correct.
And that is the final thing I want to say about this. CLOSED!!
Hey christof, excuse my humble attempt to calm this situation down, and offer an alternative, unbiased fair point of view.
You know we're friends and I remain one of your biggest fans.
But my observation was sincere.. As well as the screw, this pic elaborates on three others.
Hope this helps clarify.
As regards the slope of the slider, I'd never noticed and will do my own research. But could you post a pic if you have one pls?
Comments
I've felt bad about recent attacks and posted another thread this week suggesting much the same thing. I've worked with dozens of fans, actors and production team members, including selling valuable items on their behalf to my mailing list and online. They trust me. Then others post that I'm a bad seed without first sending me a note, "Hey, Matt, such and such happened, please tell me more, do I have my facts right about you?" Of course I'll respond and make things right if I can before it ever gets to public consumption.
Handling my own and others' issues in private I've gotten far. Defensive walls up in public aren't there. It's one of the many Christian things to do that is a best practice for everyone.
In this case, of course, Barry and FE have asked for public feedback and are receiving it. The homers are so alike yet FE has been so good-natured to the fans that it's hard for me to believe there was something amiss.
My $0.02. - Matt
Firstly, what a shame.... Two wonderful props, each with their own unique place in any collection, being dragged through mud in this way....
To what aim?
Secondly, when I look at george's excellent pics I'm not convinced they were based upon one another... The overall dimension is the only similarity..... Many details are very different...
So as Barry says, this should be allowed to lapse... Indeed I tgt I saw the hand of compromise and respectful peace in his last response.....
take it, shake it, and know that such action helps many prop makers and projects yet come....
The last thing anyone needs is an incendiary environment of legal "aggression"
I Only see 2: The screw and the engraved line.
It is a pity the slider of my prop and the FE both curve to the left. On the real Homer, this curve goes first left, then right.
Stupid we both made the same mistake. If I would have had access to the blueprints, for sure I would have done it correct.
And that is the final thing I want to say about this. CLOSED!!
Indeed! Someone else had pointed the same thing out to me during a telephone conversation. Perhaps it's purely a coincidence, or perhaps not.
DG
"People sleep peacefully in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf." Richard Grenier after George Orwell, Washington Times 1993.
Hey christof, excuse my humble attempt to calm this situation down, and offer an alternative, unbiased fair point of view.
You know we're friends and I remain one of your biggest fans.
But my observation was sincere.. As well as the screw, this pic elaborates on three others.
Hope this helps clarify.
As regards the slope of the slider, I'd never noticed and will do my own research. But could you post a pic if you have one pls?
Cheers Paul